Buttered Popcorn
by seaunicorn
Summary: Alison hates the movie theater, but when she meets a girl who works there, she can't seem to stay away.


Alison was never a big fan of going to the movies. The seats were uncomfortable and the floor was sticky and people were always texting and there was always that _one person_ who decided to bring their child who's screaming and crying the whole time. Not to mention, the tickets were highly overpriced. Who in their right mind wants to pay twelve dollars to watch a movie? And that's not even including money for snacks. No, Alison much prefers watching movies at home in the den curled up on her comfortable couch in pajamas with blankets and her dad's homemade popcorn and no crying children in sight.

But Donnie likes going to the movies a lot, so when she agreed to go out on a date with him, little did she know that he would take her to the movie theater.

Alison was raised to have good manners, so she doesn't complain when he parks his car in front of the Cinemaplex, the local theater, a place she hadn't been in years. She bites back the comments on her tongue when he buys her ticket.

The employee rips their tickets and hands them back their stubs. Alison smiles and thanks him politely, but Donnie's already heading over to their theater. Alison rolls her eyes.

"Donnie?" she calls. He turns around and smiles at her.

"Yeah?" Donnie asks.

"I'm going to go get popcorn."

Donnie nods enthusiastically. "Oh, yeah, that would be great." He digs into his pocket and fishes out a twenty dollar bill. He shoves the money into her hand. "I'll go get us good seats."

Alison nods and forces a smile as he saunters off. She sighs and heads over to the concessions stand.

The only thing Alison _does_ like about movie theaters is the popcorn. Popcorn is her favorite snack. Buttered, salted, caramel, cheese, you name it. If it's popcorn, Alison will eat it. Her favorite, by far, is her dad's popcorn, but movie theater popcorn (no matter how overpriced) is a close second.

She gets in line behind five other people. Unfortunately, there's only one person working behind the counter. The line moves slowly. Alison impatiently checks her watch, not really caring if she's late to the movie or not, but she _hates_ long lines (another thing to add to her list of what she doesn't like about movie theaters).

When it's finally her turn, she considers, for a moment, starting a new list: what she does like about movie theaters. There is only one thing on this new list (besides the popcorn, of course) and that is the girl behind the counter. Alison never thought a work uniform would look so cute but this girl is wearing her Cinemaplex polo shirt with a few of the top buttons undone and her hair is up in a messy bun and despite how overwhelmed she is with the crowd at the counter she somehow manages to have the cutest grin as she thanks the customer right before Alison.

This girl is so _goddamn cute_.

"Um…miss? Can I get you anything?" She waves her hand and Alison snaps to attention.

"What?" She steps up to the counter and the girl smiles at her and _wow_ Alison feels weak in the knees for a moment.

"Are you gonna order or are you just gonna stand there blushing?"

"Oh, um, I was just—I got distracted—I mean—"

"It's fine, I'm just teasing." She smiles playfully and Alison feels herself smiling back.

"Oh," Alison says. "Well I would just like a, um, a large popcorn. And a water."

"That's all?" the girl asks.

Alison longingly eyes the box of Milk Duds under the glass, but the popcorn is enough and the candy is overpriced, so she says, "Yes, that's it."

The girl raises an eyebrow at her, but rings up her order. $13.50. Yeah, she definitely wasn't getting those Milk Duds. Alison waits patiently as the girl gets her popcorn ready and grabs a bottle of water from the fridge.

"Here you go." On the counter is a bottle of water, a large popcorn, and a box of Milk Duds.

"Um, I didn't order these," Alison says and points at the candy.

"I know. It's on the house."

"What? No, no I can't—" She tries to refuse, but is cut off.

"Don't worry about it. It's on the house."

Alison stares open mouthed for a moment. She's being ridiculous, really. It's just candy and this girl is just being very nice, and Alison was just trying to be polite by declining. She sighs and takes her snacks, including the box of candy.

"Thank you, um…?" Alison starts, but then realizes she doesn't know the girls name.

"Beth."

Beth. It's a lovely name, and it suits her somehow, Alison thinks.

"Thank you, Beth."

"You're welcome…?"

"Alison."

"You're welcome, Alison," Beth says, and Alison's heart flutters a little when she says her name. "You should probably get going. Wouldn't want to be late for your movie."

Movie. Right, movie. Donnie. _What are you thinking, Alison? She's a girl! You're here with Donnie!_

Alison's eyes grow wide and she rushes off without saying goodbye.

She gets there when previews have already started. It takes her a minute to find Donnie because it's so dark and he doesn't notice her either. Alison plops down in the seat next to him, gives him his change, and offers him some popcorn. He grabs a handful and shoves it in his mouth.

"Thanks."

The date starts off fine. They watch the movie (some stupid action flick that Alison doesn't care about at all) and share popcorn. However, the popcorn disappears all too quickly because Donnie eats it like he hasn't eaten anything in days. And once the popcorn is gone, that's when things start to go downhill.

First, Donnie puts his arm around her. It's fine. She was expecting that to happen at some point. But then his face gets waaaaay too close to hers and his breath reeks of popcorn and hot dogs (did he even eat a hot dog recently?) and so Alison backs away a little.

But then he tries to kiss her again. She backs away a lot more this time, so that she's practically moved to the seat next to her. She doesn't relax until Donnie has pulled away his face and his arm.

A few minutes later, his arm goes over her shoulder again. And once again, Alison is fine with it.

_And then he tries to kiss her again_.

Can this guy take a hint? Maybe, because they are technically on a date, he expects her to kiss him? But it's only the first date. Also the back row of a dirty, sticky movie theater is not romantic, _at all_.

"I have to go to the bathroom," she whispers.

Donnie nods and Alison extracts herself from his embrace and darts out of the theater as quickly as she can manage. She doesn't actually have to go to the bathroom, and instead paces in circles around the lobby. She wonders how long she can stay out here before he starts to get suspicious.

"Alison!"

Alison looks up to see Beth waving at her from the concessions counter. She's resting her head in her hands and leaning forward on top of the counter, looking a little bored. Alison smiles and waves back. There's no line, so she walks up to the counter.

"Shouldn't you be in a movie right now?" Beth asks, shoving a few pieces of popcorn into her mouth.

"Shouldn't you be working?" Alison counters.

Beth stands up straight. She looks around curiously and then says in a mocking voice, "I don't think I see any customers here right now. Do you see any customers?"

"Ha ha, you're so funny."

Beth smirks. "I know I am. Popcorn?" She offers Alison a handful of popcorn that she snuck out of the machine.

"Are you allowed to do that?" Alison asks.

Beth shrugs. "As long as no one notices."

Despite herself, Alison laughs and pops a few pieces of popcorn into her mouth.

Beth takes a piece and tosses it into the air. She tries to catch it in her mouth, but it hits her in the eye. She tries again and this one misses her face entirely.

"You're really bad at that," Alison says.

Beth scoffs. "Oh, like you're any better!"

Alison gets a smug grin on her face. She takes a few pieces of popcorn, tosses them up into the air one at a time, and catches each one in her mouth.

"Show off." Alison just grins wider. "Seriously though, don't you have a movie to watch?"

Alison shrugs. "Er, well I'm kind of on a date right now and he keeps trying to kiss me."

Beth raises an eyebrow. "You're on a date and you don't want to kiss him?"

"Well it's only the first date," Alison says defensively. "And his breath smells like hot dogs!"

"Hot dogs? Gross."

"I know!" Alison takes another handful of popcorn from Beth and shoves it in her mouth. "And the back row of a movie theater is totally not romantic at all."

"Oh, totally," Beth agrees. "The projection room, that's where it's at."

"The projection room?"

"Oh, yeah, working at a movie theater does have its perks—aside from more popcorn than I can possibly be able to eat in a lifetime—including access to the projection room. I have wooed many a lady up there."

Alison's chest tightens at the thought of Beth _wooing_ girls. Wait, that shouldn't bother her. Why should that matter? Alison brushes it off and asks, "How many?"

Beth hesitates. "Ok, well maybe I haven't yet, but I've got a plan."

Alison laughs. "So tell me then, what's the plan?"

Beth tuts at her disapprovingly. "Now, now, Alison, I can't just give away all my secrets like that, to someone whom I've _just_ met, need I remind you. You could use them against me." Alison rolls her eyes. "Besides, you should probably get back to your date eventually if you don't want to miss the whole movie."

Alison just shrugs. "I could always come back and watch it again."

Beth opens her mouth to reply but it just gets stuck in this _stupid, adorable grin_ and Alison blushes. Beth gives Alison another handful of popcorn and then grabs another handful for herself.

"So do you go to Western?" Beth asks. "I'm a junior there and like, I'm pretty sure we're like the same age but I've never seen you around before."

"No, I'm a junior at Hillcrest Academy."

Beth gets an understanding smile on her face. "Ahh, so you're a private school girl, huh?"

Alison frowns. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing!" Beth reassures. She holds back for a moment and then asks, "So do you have to wear a uniform?"

"I'm not answering your questions," Alison replies stubbornly. She folds her arms across her chest. Beth's smile turns into a pout as she sticks out her lower lip and gives Alison her best puppy dog eyes. Alison rolls her eyes. "That's not going to work on me." Beth doesn't falter. She holds Alison's gaze and doesn't lose the pout. Eventually, Alison sighs. "Yes, okay, fine, we wear uniforms! Happy?" Beth smiles and nods.

"What's your uniform? Is it like, a plaid skirt like all private schools have on tv?"

Alison blushes and slowly nods.

"Oh my god, that's adorable!" Beth says with a laugh.

"Stop laughing at me!" Alison says, her cheeks growing redder.

"I'm not laughing at you, I'm laughing with you!"

"Am I laughing?"

Beth tries to slow her laughing. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry, I'll stop." Alison just continues to glare at her and takes more of her popcorn. "Is your date gonna miss you, being gone so long?"

"Wait, how long has it been?" Alison panics. She hadn't meant to stay out this long. She was just supposed to pace around for a few minutes to get some air and then head back in. But she was distracted by this girl, _Beth_, with her goddamn adorable smirk and now it had been almost fifteen minutes. "Shoot. I should probably get going."

"Um, excuse me?" Alison turns around to see a customer who had just walked up. "Can I order?"

"And that's my cue," Beth says. "See you, Alison."

"'Bye, Beth," Alison replies. "Thanks for keeping me company."

"It was my pleasure," Beth says with a wave. And Alison walks off and back into the movie theater to join Donnie again. Donnie. Hot-dog-breath Donnie who was probably going to try to kiss her again. She sighs.

But somehow she is able to slip back into her seat without him noticing. In her absence, Donnie had started actually watching the movie and now couldn't tear his eyes away from the screen. _Good_, Alison thinks. She remembers the Milk Duds that Beth gave her and picks up the unopened box from the floor. She opens it, pops one into her mouth, and smiles thinking about stupid, adorable Beth.

Donnie doesn't try anything for the rest of the movie, and Alison is relieved.

As the credits roll, they exit the theater into the lobby. Alison looks excitedly to the concessions counter, but instead of Beth standing there, she's replaced by a boy a few years older with a permanently angry look on his face. Alison frowns. She's far too upset about Beth's disappearance from work than she should be. For god's sake, her shift probably ended, or she was on break, or something. That doesn't stop Alison from being disappointed that she won't get to see the charming girl one last time.

Donnie drives Alison home, and it's a little awkward, with pleasant conversation, but Alison's thoughts are somewhere else. Or, on someone else. An adorable brunette named Beth who can't catch popcorn in her mouth to save her life. And that's probably what possesses Alison to say the next words that come out of her mouth.

"We should go again."

"What, the movies?" Donnie asks.

"Yeah," Alison replies. "I enjoyed myself. That theater is nice."

Donnie looks at her curiously because that theater is not nice. It's kinda small and dingy and dirty, but it is the closest one. "Um, sure. How's next week?"

"What about tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow? That's kind of soon. We literally just left."

"But there's still other movies showing that we haven't seen," Alison tries to justify.

Donnie thinks it's a little weird, but tomorrow is Sunday and he's not gonna say no to another date with Alison, so he agrees.

They arrive at Alison's house and Donnie leans in to try to kiss her, but Alison pretends not to notice. She leaps out of the car. "I'll see you tomorrow, Donnie," she says. "Thanks for tonight!"

The next day, Alison spends a little more time getting ready for her date than she did the night before. She contemplates which blouse would look best with those shoes—or should she just wear a dress? But she did just get that new skirt she's been wanting to wear… She paces around her room, throwing clothes all over the place before she finally settles on a pastel floral dress and a cardigan, with a matching pink headband.

Donnie picks her up a little later and after they arrive at the theater and buy their tickets, Alison immediately goes to buy popcorn while Donnie gets seats.

Alison is next in line, and her heart sinks when she finds the same angry-looking boy from last night standing behind the counter. She buys the popcorn quickly, and with a sigh, turns around to head for the theater.

Out of the corner of her eye, though, she spots a familiar, messy bun. Beth is across the lobby, carrying a broom and dustpan, sweeping up spilled popcorn and dropped straw wrappers. Alison's mouth slips into a smile as she changes course and walks toward Beth.

Beth dumps the contents of the dustpan into the nearest trash can. She huffs and then blows a loose lock of hair out of her face.

"Beth!" Alison says when she's a few feet away.

Beth looks up and sees Alison. Her eyes light up and she grins. "Alison! Back again, are we? Twice in two days seems like a lot, don't you think?"

Alison shrugs and tries to think of a reason to be here again so soon. "Donnie picked the movie yesterday, but there was another movie I wanted to see."

"Donnie's your date?" Alison nods. She notices Beth's smile falter a little, but only for a moment. "So what movie did you pick tonight?"

"Uhh…" Alison stutters. She tries to respond, but she cannot for the life of her remember any movies that are even out right now. "I don't remember what it's called," she lies. "I'm not good with stuff like that."

Beth smirks and nods. "Okay. Whatever you say." Alison is about to defend herself, but Beth cuts her off and continues. "You should get to your movie, then. If you really wanted to see it, I don't want you missing it all and blaming me." Beth grabs a few pieces of Alison's popcorn and puts them in her mouth.

Alison glares at her and opens her mouth to reply, but decides not to. She simply turns around and walks away.

"See ya 'round, Ali!" Beth calls after her.

Alison waves over her shoulder, but does not turn around to look at Beth. She can't help the blush that crept onto her cheeks at the nickname that Beth used.

Alison slips silently into the theater and the movie has already started. She finds Donnie, in the back row once again, and sits next to him.

"You made it," Donnie says. "I was about to go look for you, I almost thought you got lost." He grabs a handful of popcorn.

Alison shakes her head. "There was... a long line at concessions."

Donnie nods and turns his attention back to the movie, grabbing handfuls of popcorn every few seconds.

Today, his breath doesn't smell like hot dogs.

That's what Alison thinks when he leans in to kiss her, and that's the only reason she actually lets him this time. His mouth is hard and rough and uncomfortable, and Alison keeps her lips squeezed together in a tight line and keeps her eyes open. She doesn't know how long it lasts. Too long, she thinks. But eventually Donnie pulls back and shoots her a cocky smile. Alison forces a smile onto her own face before she excuses herself to go to the bathroom.

This time, Alison actually does go to the bathroom. She goes to the sink and splashes some cold water on her face.

Someone comes out of a stall on the other end of the bathroom. "Alison?" Beth wears rubber gloves with her uniform. She walks toward Alison, takes off the gloves, and jumps up to sit on the counter.

"Beth? What are you doing?"

"I'm on custodial duty today," Beth says. "One of the many perks of the job: cleaning the bathroom. Shouldn't you be watching a movie? Again. You know I'm starting to think you're stalking me."

Alison says nothing and gives her a tight lipped smile.

"You okay?" Beth asks. "You look a little worried."

Alison gives a heavy sigh. She hesitates, but then says. "Donnie kissed me."

Beth waits for further explanation, but Alison says nothing else. "You don't seem too excited about that. I'm almost not convinced that you're straight," Beth jokes.

"Me neither," Alison says seriously.

"Alison," Beth starts. She thinks for a moment, unsure of what to say, but then continues. "Alison, why are you here?"

"I like movies."

"Yeah, but you don't like the movie theater." Alison tries to protest, but Beth cuts her off. "Don't try to deny it, I've been working here a while and I never once saw you until yesterday."

Beth tilts her head to one side, waiting for a response. She leans in a little closer, and Alison panics. "I, uhh, I should go," she says quickly, "back to Donnie." She darts out of the bathroom before Beth can get another word out.

Alison returns to the theater. She doesn't let Donnie kiss her again or put his arm around her.

When the movie is over and they leave, Beth calls for her. Alison waves, but she doesn't say anything.

The car ride back is awkward. Thankfully Donnie talks a lot, so Alison doesn't have to do much of that herself.

When Donnie pulls up at her house, he asks, "So when can I see you again?"

And without really thinking about it, Alison says, "No."

"No?" Donnie asks. "That doesn't really answer my—"

"I mean, I don't think I can go out with you again," she says. "I'm sorry, Donnie."

When he asks why, Alison isn't really sure. Well, she is, but she doesn't want to explain it to Donnie. So she dismisses him with, "I'll see you at school tomorrow." He drives off and Alison feels almost relieved that he won't be trying to kiss her anymore.

Alison spends the next two days trying to build up the courage to return to the Cinemaplex. And then she thinks, it's stupid really, that going to the movie theater is the only way she knows how to find Beth. She doesn't know her last name, her phone number, anything.

After school on Wednesday, Alison takes the bus to the theater. She buys a ticket to get inside, she's not even sure what she bought a ticket for. And then she thinks, _What if Beth isn't even working today_? It's a Wednesday afternoon. Why would Beth be working on a Wednesday afternoon? And Alison feels stupid for bothering to try that day.

But as if on cue, Beth walks through the front doors, pulling her uniform blue and black polo on over a white tank top.

"Beth!" Alison calls.

Beth sees Alison and gives her an unenthusiastic smile. Alison jogs over to meet her.

"Nice uniform," Beth says. Alison blushes. She had forgotten about that. "You here with Donnie again?"

Alison shakes her head. "No," she says. "I'm not going out with Donnie anymore. I'm here by myself."

"Why?"

"To see you."

"Really?" Beth asks, and Alison nods a little too enthusiastically.

The corners of Beth's mouth quirk up into a smile. "Give me two seconds," Beth says. "Wait right there. Don't move!"

Beth disappears behind a door labeled employees only. Alison looks around. The theater is pretty empty, probably because it's a Wednesday afternoon. She sees the guy at concessions sneak a handful of popcorn and smiles, thinking about when Beth did that for her.

Beth returns less than a minute later. She grabs Alison's hand and leads her away without saying anything. Alison can't hide the stupid grin that crosses her face at their joined hands.

Beth leads her to another door that is labeled employees only. She pulls some keys out of her pocket, unlocks the door, and leads Alison up a set of stairs.

It's a very small, cramped room, not because of the size of the room itself, but because of what's in it. There's a desk with a computer on top of it and two chairs. Next to that is a very large projector pointing out a small window.

"Am I allowed to be here?" Alison asks nervously.

"Technically? No," Beth says. "But as long as no one finds out, it's fine."

"Why did you bring me here?"

"I kind of have to do my job," she says. She pushes a button on the projector and clicks a button on the computer, and outside the window, in the theater, the previews start. "We have to be quiet though," she whispers. "These walls are super thin.

Beth flicks the lights off in the projection room, so the only light source they have comes through the window. Different colors and shapes flicker across their faces every second and Alison suddenly understands why Beth thinks the projection room is so romantic.

"I didn't really want to do much talking," Alison says. She's overcome with a wave of confidence and thinks, _oh god where did this come from_? But she steps closer to Beth so that Beth is pinned against the desk, and being this close, Alison notices that she smells like buttered popcorn.

And when Alison kisses Beth, she finds that Beth tastes like buttered popcorn too. Her lips are soft, much softer than Donnie's, and her tongue is heavenly, and as Beth nips softly at her bottom lip she wonders why she didn't do this sooner. Beth wraps her arms around Alison's neck, pulling her closer, and Alison has one hand around Beth's waist and the other tangled in her hair. They break apart too soon, breathing heavily, foreheads pressed together.

"You know," Beth breathes, "you could have just asked me out like a normal person instead of stalking me at work."

"I suppose," Alison agrees, "But this is more fun."

"Also, I am really digging the uniform," Beth confesses. "It's kinda hot."

Alison just rolls her eyes and presses their lips together again.


End file.
